[Yacht colors of the world; Fancy dress ball costumes; Musical instruments of the world].

[Durham, NC & New York, NY]: W. Duke, Sons & Co., [Lithographed by Knapp & Co.; Schumacher & Etlinger], [1888-1889]. Three works in one vol. Oblong 4to. With 18 colour chromolithograph plates (slight thumbing to fore-edges, very minor spotting on first leaf). Original cloth-backed chromolithograph softcovers, printed on thick paper stock, cover art of Miss Sadler & Phoebe Russell on front cover in Yacht Colours, violin on back cover (minor shelfwear, very minor creasing, faint tide mark at spine), still a VG copy. First edition of this trio of scarce and beautifully printed souvenir books issued by the Duke Sons & Co. tobacco company thanking their patrons for smoking Duke Cigarettes, Cameo Cigarettes, Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes, and Cross Cut Cigarettes. The plates are composed of trading cards featuring the famed actresses and notable women across the world including Phoebe Russell, Kate Blancke, Mabel Jordan, Estelle Clayton, Zelie de Lussan for the American Canoe Association, Royal Cork Yacht Club, Seawanhaka Yacht Club, Calshot Castle Yacht Club, Oceanic Yacht Club, New Brunswick Yacht Club, and many others. The ball costumes feature stars dressed in a wide range of elaborate ball costumes with headdresses including those of parrots, watermelon slices, horns, cricket ball & bat, and even a woman with goldfish bowl, and fish-themed jewelry. The third work featuring musical instruments was printed by a newly constituted Schumacher & Ettlinger Lithographers who had suffered a devastating fire just a few years before, and includes a wide range of women musicians, including a young African-American woman playing the banjo. Duke Sons & Co. headed by James Buchanan Duke was one of the founding members of the American Tobacco Company, largely due to their ability to produce all cigarettes at a cheaper rate due to the invention of James Bonsack’s cigarette-rolling machine.